Oscar Winner Ronald Harwood to Write Martin Luther King, Jr. Story for DreamWorks Studios
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acclaimed playwright and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood will write the screenplay for DreamWorks Studios’ Martin Luther King, Jr. bio-pic, it was announced today by Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, Co-Presidents of Production for the studio. As previously announced, Steven Spielberg, Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones will produce the film about the renowned civil rights leader.
“It is so gratifying for all of us at DreamWorks Studios to have a writer as respected and honored as Ronald Harwood to write the screenplay for our Martin Luther King film”
The DreamWorks film will be the first theatrical motion picture to be authorized by The King Estate to utilize the intellectual property of Dr. King to create the definitive portrait of his life. Dr. King copyrighted his speeches, books, and famous works during his lifetime.
“It is so gratifying for all of us at DreamWorks Studios to have a writer as respected and honored as Ronald Harwood to write the screenplay for our Martin Luther King film,” said Mark Sourian and Holly Bario. “His record of achievements makes him particularly suited to portraying this deeply personal story against the background of such a turbulent time.”
One of the world's most critically celebrated contemporary playwrights and screenwriters, the Oscar-winning Harwood brings to this much-anticipated project a career-long fascination with themes surrounding race, conscience and moral choices. Harwood is equally renowned for his revealing recreations of history, as in his Academy Award-winning screenplay for "The Pianist." He also received Oscar nominations for The Dresser
, which lifted the curtain on backstage life in a World War II theatre, and for adapting the non-fiction tale of human transcendence, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
. A native of South Africa, he has written extensively about apartheid, including the films Mandela, written while the future South African leader was still in prison, and an adaptation of Alan Paton's powerful classic, Cry The Beloved Country
. He has also penned two anti-apartheid novels and two anti-apartheid plays (Tramway Road, Another Time.) Harwood's diverse screen work, which often has simultaneously brought the past to life and enduring issues of human responsibility to the fore, further includes the Soviet gulag drama One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
; Taking Sides, the screen adaptation of his play about a conductor in Nazi Germany; and the W. Somerset Maugham story of 1930s revenge, Being Julia
. These themes were also at the heart of his 2008 stage revival of "Taking Sides," which was paired with his newest play, "Collaboration," about the conduct of composer Richard Strauss during the Third Reich, in a popular and acclaimed run in London's West End. Harwood says of his approach to Dr. King's life and impact: "I will not say anything about my approach to this screenplay except to say what I always say: 'I will do my utmost to be true to truth.'"
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. He became a civil rights activist early in his career as a pastor. He led the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. His pioneering efforts to deliver racial equality through civil disobedience and other non-violent means led to the March on Washington in 1963, at which he delivered his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964 he became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Dr. King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 39.
About DreamWorks Studios:
DreamWorks Studios (www.dreamworksstudios.com) is a motion picture company led by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider in partnership with The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The new company is a continuation of DreamWorks Studios which was formed in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. The company expects to put into production 5 to 6 films per year.
DreamWorks Studios can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dw_studios. [END]
and (of course) Avatar. But my initial reaction is that this Dracula movie is a joke. I have a feeling that this will be in the vein of 
, which was a loud, obnoxious, mediocre movie.
. Obviously, a woman winning isn't the only shocker. Bigelow won the award intead of James Cameron for his behemoth hit, Avatar. Cameron had momentum after winning a Golden Globe for directing Avatar just two weeks ago.
. 
begins on the heels of the first movie as Light Yagami joins the investigation team in pursuit of the serial killer known as “Kira.” While L still strongly suspects that Light is “Kira,” Light tries to uncover L’s real name so he can kill him with his Death Note. But things get complicated when a new rash of murders all around the world take place, with a “Second Kira” claiming responsibility. Light learns the identity of the Second Kira and suggests they join forces to get rid of L. Will L be able to catch “Kira” before he is killed?
, as his assistant and researcher. Capote wants to write about how the Clutters’ murders affected Holcomb. With that as his focus, Capote initially doesn’t care if the murderers are ever caught.
. The film focuses on his obsession with finishing the book, which meant that he desperately wanted Perry and his partner to be executed so that the book would have an end, and his compassion for his subjects, especially his deep feelings for Perry.
, director D.J. Caruso (Taking Lives) takes a youth-oriented spin on Alfred Hitchcock classic 
and submerges it deep in the slasher film sub-genre that has thrived on and off since the late 1970’s. Meanwhile, his star, Shia LaBeouf is hitting his stride as an in-demand actor. Although Shia is playing a teen again as he did so famously in the Disney Channel series, 
(for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award) and his hit big-screen debut, Holes, he’s grown up now.
. An alternative to mainstream history texts, the book is also a favorite of such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen and Ben Affleck. First published in 1980 with little promotion and a first printing of 5,000, A People's History of the United States could be described as a people's best-seller. Through word of mouth, it attracted a broad audience and finally reached one million sales in 2003.
, chronicles this influential thinker’s life as an activist committed to social change. The film also includes interviews with Noam Chomsky
, Daniel Ellsberg
, Tom Hayden, Marian Wright Edelman
, and Alice Walker
(Edelman and Walker were students of Zinn’s when he taught at Spellman College in Atlanta in the early 1960’s.).
doing his best solemn monotone. Still, this documentary is required viewing for people who want to learn about someone who has revealed the dark side of our democracy.